Paul Taylor

Longtime veteran Chris Lytle has reportedly signed a four-fight contract extension with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and his new deal will go into effect on October 18th, when he takes on fellow welterweight Paul Taylor at UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben, which will take place at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England.

The news comes from our friends at MMA Junkie, who have confirmed the two signings with Lytle’s manager, Ken Pavia.

“The UFC expressed satisfaction with his past performances, and they extended his deal by four fights,” Pavia said in the report. “Chris has a home in the UFC. He’s comfortable fighting for the UFC. Both sides will benefit from the deal. We’re very happy with it.”

While Lytle hasn’t been the most consistent fighter in terms of winnings, he remains one of the most exciting athletes on the UFC roster. Lytle has lost two out of his last three fights, most recently dropping a bloody unanimous decision to standout wrestler Josh Koscheck earlier this month.

Meanwhile Taylor has split his first four fights with the UFC. After stopping Edilberto de Oliveira with strikes in his debut last year, Taylor went on to lose two straight contests to Marcus Davis and Paul Kelly respectively. He last won a close split decision over Jess Liaudin last month at UFC 85: Bedlam.

Matt Hughes hasn’t officially retired, but his career is now visibly coming to an end. While two straight losses to current welterweight king Georges St. Pierre are nothing to be alarmed about, Hughes, who once said that he would hang up the gloves before becoming anyone’s highlight reel, was stunned again yesterday afternoon at the UFC’s latest event in London courtesy of a Thiago Alves’ flying knee.

Alves, who failed to make weight for the fight and forced the bout to take place at a catch-weight of 174 lbs, was in control from the start of the fight, evading multiple takedown attempts from Hughes, a former All-American collegiate wrestler.

However Hughes was eventually able to take Alves down to the canvas late in the first round. Despite not mounting much offense, Hughes was able to control Alves from top position for a good portion of the round before Alves reversed position and worked some ground-and-pound of his own before the horn sounded to end the stanza.

The second round saw Hughes take a knee to the face after trying another early takedown. The blow opened a cut near the former champion’s mouth and Hughes found himself on his back and avoiding strikes from Alves yet again. After landing a few hard punches, a scramble allowed both fighters to get back to their feet.

Alves then rushed Hughes and connected with a flying knee that sent the Miletich Fighting Systems product crumbling to the mat, his left knee awkwardly bending behind him. Alves pounced on a defenseless Hughes and connected with a couple of unanswered shots before referee Herb Dean stepped in to halt the bout.

“On June 7th I’ll be doing my fourth fight in the UFC against Paul Taylor at UFC 85,” Liaudin said in the message. “Paul is a well-rounded fighter with good cardio, strength, and a big heart. The fight is very important to me as another loss may mean that I can get booted out of the UFC.”

UFC 85 will feature a light heavyweight contenders match between former champion Chuck Liddell and “Ultimate Fighter” season two winner Rashad Evans. Heavyweight standouts Fabricio Werdum and Brandon Vera will also clash.

Liaudin and Taylor have actually fought before in the past. Liaudin dropped a controversial decision to his opponent at a Cage Rage show in 2002. The native of France recently inked a new three-fight deal with the UFC following his recent loss to Marcus Davis at UFC 80.

After stopping Edilberto de Oliveira with strikes in his UFC debut, Taylor has gone on to lose two consecutive fights to Davis and Paul Kelly.

In a night of quick fights and surprising stoppages, one thing remains the same: B.J. Penn is still that damn good.

Penn submitted former Ultimate Fighter contestant Joe Stevenson with a rear naked choke in the second round to claim the vacant UFC lightweight title and become the second fighter in history along with current heavyweight champ Randy Couture to win championship gold in two different weight classes.

The lively 8,412 inside the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England saw Penn surprise Stevenson with an uppercut that sent the California native down to the mat in the opening seconds. Penn pounced on his opponent but Stevenson was able to maintain his composure and survive Penn’s initial assault.

The former welterweight champion controlled Stevenson on the ground for the remainder of the first round, opening up a vicious cut in the middle of Stevenson’s forehead with just over a minute left in the round. Stevenson would end up donning a crimson mask for the rest of the fight.

The two had an even exchange on the feet to start the second stanza but that ended once Penn started to pick Stevenson apart with looping lefts and uppercuts. The bout was stopped at one point to have the doctor check Stevenson’s cut but the stream of blood avoiding Stevenson’s eyes already gave those watching the doctor’s answer.

Stevenson fell victim to another Penn (12-4-1) uppercut once the bout was restarted, signaling the beginning of the end for “Daddy.” Penn used punches and elbows to force Stevenson (28-8) out of position enough to be able to give up his back, which Penn quickly took without a second thought.

Penn was able to sink in a rear naked choke and Stevenson was forced to tap out without putting up much of a fight. The win finally gave Penn the UFC lightweight title in what was his third career attempt at the belt.

After the fight Penn acknowledged that he was trying to make his third try a successful one.

“Joe is a great guy,” said Penn. “I knew he was going to be tough, but I put everything into this. I wanted to make sure it was three times the charm and not three strikes you’re out.”

Penn also went out of his way to send former champion Sean Sherk a message now that Sherk will be challenging Penn in his first title defense later this year.

Sherk, who was cage-side doing color commentary on the bout along with Rogan and UFC play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg, stormed into the Octagon and picked up a microphone right after Penn made his comment.

“That belt belongs to me,” said Sherk. “You’ve got one more fight before you can be called lightweight champ.”

We will be going live at 1:00 PM EST with live results of UFC 80: Rapid Fire, which will take place live from the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England.

UFC 80 features a lightweight championship bout between former welterweight title holder B.J. Penn and top contender and Ultimate Fighter 2 winner Joe Stevenson. Also on the card is a rematch between Gabriel Gonzaga and Fabricio Werdum and a welterweight clash between Marcus Davis and Jess Liaudin.

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and PRIDE Middleweight title holder Dan Henderson clashed last night in order to determine who currently is the best fighter in the world at 205 lbs. It was Jackson that came away victorious after five long and hard fought rounds at the sold out O2 Arena in London, England.

Jackson overcame being down on points earlier in the fight to win the final two rounds in convincing fashion and to give the judges more than enough reason to award him an unanimous decision.

Henderson (22-6) controlled the fight early on, clinching early and often to keep Jackson (28-6) at bay and unable to let his hands go. Jackson fought hard to prevent the two-time U.S. Olympic wrestler from taking him down but Henderson’s skill proved too much in the first few rounds.

However the rounds quickly caught up to Henderson and Jackson used his size and strength to wear down his opponent. The final stages of the fight saw Jackson beat Henderson at his own game, showing off newly polished ground skills that have become yet another weapon in Jackson’s dangerous arsenal. The final round saw both fighters lay everything on the line. Both were content to slug it out until the final bell where Henderson collapsed due to fatigue, allowing Jackson to pound away until the referee was forced to let the fighters know that the bout was over.

After the fight, Jackson let everyone know that his success on the ground wasn’t a fluke.

Today we will be going live at 1:30 PM EST, covering UFC 75: Champion vs Champion with one of our patented live blogs. Be sure to leave some comments throughout the day and night…

Since this event is taking place in England and airing in North America via tape delay at 9 PM EST on Spike TV, we will be sure to keep the live blog hidden from the front of the page. In order to view it in it’s entirety, click on the “continue reading” link at the bottom of the post.

While you are waiting for the event to start, feel free to check out our coverage of the event which includes predictions, weigh-in results, and much more: